Does Sleep Affect Weight Loss?

Does Sleep Affect Weight Loss?

We are sure you’ve heard it all before. When you don’t get enough sleep its harder to lose weight. But have you ever wondered why?

Experts say that getting enough shut eye affects your health and weight as good as exercise and diet! A 14 day study of people who were dieting and exercising, found that their ability to lose fat dropped 55%!

Hunger Hormones
Your brain treats sleep like your body treats fresh vegetables and fruit. Its vital for its function. Most people need at least 7 – 9 hours sleep every night. If you are not giving your brain the fuel it needs from sleep, cravings for high carb, sugar and fat will be unavoidable. This is because sleep deprivation affects your fullness and hunger hormones called Ghrelin and Leptin.

Lepton and Ghrelin are hormones that signal your brain when to stop and start eating. When your body is sleep deprived Lepton, the hormone that signals your brain to stop eating, plummets while the hormone Ghrelin signals the brain that it is time to eat. The stress hormone, Cortisol is also activated when you haven’t had a few Zzz’s, which tells your body to conserve energy and fuel.

So its pretty easy to see why its hard to lose weight when you haven’t had a sufficient amount of sleep!

Tips To Get A Good Sleep
– Turn off your devices an hour before bedtime. Blue light from your phone and laptop affects levels of the sleep-inducing hormone Melatonin which than makes it harder for your brain to fall asleep.

– Create a bedtime routine. Read a book, get into some cozy pjs, have a warm drink like tea or hot chocolate, turn on an infuser with lavender oil and make sure the bedroom is cool enough to sleep comfortably under a quilt.